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Last season’s treble-winning club bmobile Joe Public, will open its account in the 2012 blink/bmobile National Super League (NSL) season, on Sunday, when it takes on Westside Super Starz, in the second match of a double header at the Marvin Lee Stadium, Macoya, from 6 pm.

The late fixture will follow a clash between Club Sando and 1976 FC Phoenix, which will kick-off at 4 pm, together with the rest of the opening day NSL matches. The four clubs are among the 12 which will participate in the 2012 Super League Campaign, an increase of last year’s ten teams.

Stokely Vale, Eagles United, Real Maracas, WASA and Defence Force are the other teams which are returning for the 2012 season, while ambitious community-based teams, Siparia Spurs, Biche United and 1st FC Santa Rosa will join the league for the first time after sealing promotion through the Champions of Champions competition. St Francois Nationals, last year’s last place finisher has been relegated.

The Match Day One exchange between Joe Public and Westside will feature a keen match-up of both finalists in last season’s inaugural Christmas Cup, a match which finished 4-1 in favour of the Macoya-based Joe Public team.

Ellis Dyett scored a hat-trick in that encounter. Super Starz, meanwhile, is led by long-time St Anthony’s College headman Nigel Grosvenor. Grosvenor will challenge the 2012 campaign with a team which finished third from bottom last year in the NSL.

He, however, has a rich history with the Secondary School which is noted for producing talent. Most recently and significantly, “Grovey” guided the “Tigers” to the Secondary Schools Football League North Zone and national InterCol titles in 2011, after going 19 straight matches without dropping a point.

Grosvenor will be up against Dale Saunder’s Joe Public team, which the latter took to treble winning glory. Saunders, a former Joe Public and national midfielder landed the league, knockout and the inaugural Christmas Cup titles in his first season in charge of the club.

Speaking ahead of the challenge in the upcoming campaign, Saunders spoke of the added incentives by the league for competition, and expressed hope that his team would be able to mirror the title winning performances of 2011.

“We’re hoping that we can reclaim our titles, and we will surely do our best,” said Saunders. He added: “One thing I know about Joe Pubic is that we have a great structure in place, we have a great organisation in place, and we are one of the best clubs in the Caribbean.”

After the opening day clash with Westside, Joe Public will have two more tricky tests in succession when it takes on Defence Force and WASA FC on the next two Sundays. In the other matches on Sunday, Eagles United will take on Stokely Vale at the Edinburgh Recreation Ground, while Real Maracas challenges FC Santa Rosa at the Maracas Recreation Ground, St Joseph.

At the Palo Seco Veledrome, Siparia Spurs will play Defence Force and in the other match Biche United will host WASA FC in its first NSL match at the Bitch Recreation Ground.